Val’s Toy Chest- Toy Fair Part 1: DC-Palooza

Hi guys and gals- I have returned from my first day at Toy Fair and there is so much to talk about this year that I am going to split the news over the next few columns. This week we will discuss figures from the comic book company nearest and dearest to my heart- DC Comics!

On Thursday, DC Collectibles revealed a good portion of what we are to expect from them within the next year, and there is a lot coming- let’s start with one of the best lines to come out of DC Collectibles recently- Batman: The Animated Series. On display were a couple of figures we already knew about such as Zatanna, Commissioner Gordon and Etrigan, but DC Collectibles also showed off figures of Talia, The Ventriloquist and Scarface, Detective Harvey Bullock and Clayface from the original iteration of B:TAS and The Joker, Harley Quinn, Firefly and a “Girls’ Night Out” five-pack from The New Batman Adventures. The five pack is slated to include repacks of Harley, Ivy and Batgirl plus brand-new figures of Supergirl and Live Wire. There will also be a three-pack of figures based on The Dark Knight Returns characters as they were featured in the TNBA episode “Legends of the Dark Knight” A Batman Beyond three-pack and a massive Batplane/Batwing round out the series for the year.

I’ve discussed the DC Icons line in past columns and DC showed off some highly tempting items for this series as well. Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Deathstroke make up the newest single packed figures in the series while a DC Icons 7 pack of the New 52 version of the Justice League is due for release sometime during the year. A couple of deluxe sets will also be available including a two-pack of Darkseid and his daughter, Grail and arguably the best reveal from the Icons line thus far: the Batgirl of Burnside featuring the latest Babs Tarr designed incarnation of the dominoed daredoll with a motorcycle to display her with as well as interchangeable parts so she looks like she’s riding the cycle. Having gotten to see this piece in person, she is a beauty and definitely one that will break my wallet later in the year. Fans of cool accessories also have two accessory packs to collect to augment their existing figures. These packs come with smaller characters like Ch’P plus various DC artifacts and different hands or attachments.

I admit that I don’t pay much attention to the video game based lines since I haven’t really played any of the latest DC/Batman games but the new Arkham Knight Batgirl and Oracle set has been revealed and both figures are very stylized and a welcome addition to a Barbara Gordon collection. Other figures shown include Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and the Red Hood.

The biggest news from DC Collectibles is that they are releasing their own figures based on both of this year’s DC Comics films. In scale with their TV figures, DC showed off figures from Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad, 2013’s Man of Steel is also represented. DC luminaries such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are joined by Lex Luthor, General Zod, Faora, Jor-El, Harley Quinn and El Diablo?!?! Each figure features more articulation than your standard DC Collectibles figures and the pricing on these are TBD. Speaking of the TV lines, this was the one area where I was disappointed with the showing as we are only getting the latest versions of Flash and Arrow(now Green Arrow) as seen in the current seasons of the hit CW series. The new TV Flash figure comes with a Grant Gustin/Barry Allen head which is cool. Hopefully DCC has more characters lined up for the TV line as there are a ton of characters I’d still love to see from all three of the DC TV shows airing on the CW. DCC also has a Harley Quinn line based on Amanda Conner’s artwork and more Darwyn Cooke and Greg Capullo designer figures in the pipeline.

Briefly:

Diamond Select had a few new Gotham pieces including Bruce Wayne and Barbara Kean, plus Gotham Minimates and assorted JL and BTAS products.

Funko’s catalog offered a teaser of Speedy/Thea and Green Arrow POP from Arrow along with POPs of the classic comics versions of Firestorm, Power Girl, Supergirl, Cyborg and Black Manta.

Cryptozoic is getting into the blind box arena with a DC Bombshells vinyl figure line that will come randomly packed in tin boxes.

Mezco revealed a brand new Batmobile in scale with their One:12 Collective line, very cool piece. Price range is unknown at this time but it is a NICE toy for sure.

The last thing I will discuss today is the Mattel Multiverse line. Thus far Multiverse has covered BVS, Arrow, The Flash and the comics. Get ready for more as we have additional characters from BVS including Luthor and Aquaman and a good assortment of figures from Suicide Squad including the Joker, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Killer Croc and Katana. The best reveal for me other than Katana is the TV Supergirl figure based on the CBS series starring Melissa Benoist. She looks great and I cannot wait to add her to the collection. Other figures to come include more from the Dark Knight Returns.

That’s it for me this week- next week: the Marvelous side of Toy Fair! Catch you then!